“I have a political ideology left of center, but I think all politicians are liars,” he says. “Nobody in this country wants to hear a politician tell the truth: ‘We’re f–ed, and I approved this message.’

“I’m a guy who will vote for Obama and who’s contributed money to his campaign, but it’s my trust he has to earn,” he says.

“Everything I know about Obama he wrote, so pardon me if I’m cynical about that.”

Hughley’s show will be taped before a studio audience at CNN’s Time Warner Center studios. “We’ll do our version of a monologue, comedy pieces and guest interviews,” he says.

“One of our bits will be that, no matter what happens in this election cycle, half of the country will be devastated,” he says. “We’ve had four black presidents in TV shows, and every time that happened the world came to an end.

“So we’re gonna have an astrologer on to see what effect a black president would have.”